Council Approves Blank Check for Resort Operating Fee

Earlier tonight the Lake Elsinore City Council approved an Agreement for Operational Management of the La Laguna Resort and Boat Launch without specifying how much they approved paying the Operator to manage the facility. City Councilmembers have a fundamental fiduciary responsibility to oversee the spending of taxpayer dollars. Apparently, not a single Councilmember thought it was important to know the total cost of approving this agreement, because the “La Laguna Operating Fee” was not specified under section 4.3, nor section 25.1d of the agreement.

In my 20 years working in municipal government I never witnessed the City Council approve a blank check for services considered under “Business Items” of the agenda. I suspect this is unlawful and that the agreement is void, until the Council approves this spending at an open public meeting. This item will have to be brought back to the Council for approval…again.

The majority of this screw-up falls upon the City’s highly paid professional staff, especially City Manager Grant Yates. More importantly, Director Skinner never mentioned the “Operating Fee” in his written Staff Report or his verbal presentation to the City Council. The crazy thing is I disclosed this omission in my earlier post to the Patch Bulletin Board (May 11th Disappointing City Staff Proposal for Operations of Resort) and specifically informed three Councilmembers.

Let’s see if anyone at City Hall is big enough to admit this mistake and take responsibility.

Pat Kilroy (22 year resident)

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